CARTIER THE TORSADE

It takes a big personality (with a long and graceful neck) to carry off a style as chunky and showy as the torsade, which is the French word for twist. The necklace is made by assembling many strands of pearls or beads, and securing them, twisted or cascading, in place with clasps.

This short, multi-strand style also applies to bracelets. For this Cartier High Jewellery creation, a white gold, diamond and onyx collar holds up a torsade of ruby pebbles accented with intermittently spaced diamonds. The main challenges of creating a torsade is ensuring colour and quality uniformity of hundreds of stones, and contrasting them with other gems for visual impact – a feat clearly shown here by the French maison.